THAT AGE-OLD FOOTBALL TRADITION known as the Immutable Law of the Ex took centre stage at The Valley yesterday. The home crowd took great delight in taunting Scott Parker, their former darling, but it was Lee Bowyer, another old boy, who made sure that Newcastle United left empty handed. Glenn Roeder, the Newcastle caretaker manager, called his team’s performance unacceptable.

“The players have got to realise if they want a long career at this football club, whoever the new manager is going to be, they’ve got to cut out their mistakes,” Roeder said. “This club cannot be in the middle of the table over the next few seasons. It’s a huge, huge job for someone to sort this out.”

Such criticism might be enough to deter leading contenders from taking the job at Newcastle. Martin O’Neill is understood to be the first choice, but Roeder’s assessment of the size of the task ahead might dent even his enthusiasm. “Defensively we are showing no consistency whatsoever. I won’t have anyone say the players lack motivation. We are not looking like keeping a clean sheet at the moment,” he said.

It was only part of his warm-up routine but Parker, on his first return to The Valley since his acrimonious departure to Chelsea two years ago, skipped along to the Red Red Robin song played on the tannoy as the teams entered the stadium. The reception from the home supporters was mixed, the jeers far outweighing the applause, the chants far from complimentary.

How does a player react when his every touch of the ball is booed? Parker chose to score not only a sumptuous goal, but his first in the Premiership for Newcastle. His 25-yard measured strike had more than touch of the inevitable about it, not least because no Charlton player even considered closing down the space in front of him. Parker luxuriated in the moment and jogged the full length of the pitch to celebrate in front of the travelling supporters.

It was just as well that he took his time as another former Charlton player scored from the restart. Bowyer, who was the country’s most expensive teenager when he left the Valley for Leeds United ten years ago, did not know much about his own goal.

Peter Ramage attempted to clear Hermann Hreidarsson’s header but the ball ricoched off Bowyer and in past Shay Given, the Newcastle goalkeeper. It was “a very, very poor goal,” Roeder said. “You can imagine how distraught he was after the game.”

Charlton had already held the lead through Darren Bent’s 23rd-minute penalty, awarded when Craig Moore brought down Jerome Thomas just inside the penalty area after a botched clearance by Stephen Carr, the Newcastle full back. It was Bent’s twentieth goal of the season and he is playing with a slight ankle injury.

Alan Curbishley, though, pointed to the performance of Luke Young as one that ought to make the England management team sit up and take notice. “He can play left back,” he reminded them. Curbishley is one of the managers under consideration to replace Sven-Göran Erikkson. “I’ve heard nothing since I was caught (being interviewed by the FA),” Curbishley said. “I’m concentrating on the club. I’m trying to make plans for next year and attract players to the club.”

In spite of Parker’s moment of audacity, Newcastle looked second best for most of the match. Kieron Dyer came off the bench for the second half but he spent most of his time being flagged for offside. Given, Newcastle’s most consistent player this season, was forced to make an impressive save from a dipping shot from Bryan Hughes and Marcus Bent wasted a glorious opportunity when both he and his namesake Darren had beaten the offside trap.

Still, while the score remained 2-1, the home supporters were a little jittery. Jay Bothroyd prevented a fraught finale by scoring with his first touch, heading in Dennis Rommedahl’s cross.

Curbishley has no injury problems and the chance to finish comfortably inside the top ten and to reach the semi-final of the FA Cup, should his side win their quarter-final replay away to Middlesbrough. Anything more than that and the Football Association will be most interested. “He might be England coach next year,” Roeder said. And the job sounds more appetising than that of Newcastle manager right now.